Better Law Jobs = Less Money. Huh?

Can it be right? Lawyers looking for less money? Yesterday, around 125 law students from some of the best law schools in America - think Yale, Harvard, Stanford et al - emailed the largest law firms in the country to not only announce their new organization - Law Students Buildings A Better Legal Profession - but to also outline what should be done to build a better environment for lawyers.

What the law students want is law firms to sign a charter for sane work conditions, including:
- Making concrete steps towards a transactional billing system;

- Reducing maximum billable hour expectations for partnership;
- Implementing balanced hours policies that work; and
- Making work expectations clear.

The firm wants students to know which firms have signed on to its principles and intends conducting presentations about the work requirements at the law schools. It also makes it clear that it understands that signing on means less money. Fine by them. If that's the cost, then so be it.

Let's see what happens with this new Bill of Rights For Lawyers.

When Law Firms Die - Take Jenkins & Gilchrist For Instance

There's nothing more touching than the death of a law firm, particularly when you're an employee. So, when Jenkins & Gilchrist - a 600 attorney firm - announced their departure from the land of the legal living they did so with a message to "former clients" and friends:

Effective midnight March 31, 2007, Jenkens & Gilchrist no longer offers legal services.
It is with a profound appreciation for the clients who have allowed us to serve them for more than 50 years as well as members of the business community who have been critical to our success, that we announce the formation of a team charged with the responsibility of successfully managing the wind-down of Jenkens business matters. In the coming days, we will publish information on this website which will assist you if you have business, questions or concerns.
Thank you.
Jenkens & Gilchrist

Still, the partners for the most part are finding alternative employment. Hunton & Williams has added 93 former J&G lawyers to their Texas offices.